VIDEO: Cohoes High students reach the most anticipated day of their senior year

Casey Israel, valedictorian of Cohoes High School's Class of 2012, delivers her address during Commencement Exercises Saturday morning at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy. (Jeff Couch/ The Record)

Members of Cohoes High School's Class of 2012 line up in preparation for Saturday morning's Commencement Exercises at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy. (Jeff Couch/ The Record)

TROY -- Look into the future and do not take what you've been taught during these four formative years for granted. Those were the themes echoed by several speakers during Cohoes High School's Commencement Exercises, held at Hudson Valley Community College Saturday morning.

The 155 members of the graduating class sat in the McDonough Sports Complex, eagerly waiting to move on to the next phase of their lives. Although Brianna Tarlo, a senior who graduated with high honors, valued her experience at high school, she admitted that she is looking forward to attending Russell Sage College to pursue a nursing degree.

"It's a little nerve-wracking," she said. "But I know it will be worth it in the end."

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Senior Dan deChiaro, who graduated with honors, expressed how much he valued the opportunity to go to college, looking at it as a time that could make or break him on his path to becoming an engineer.

"It's scary that in four years what I do there is what I am doing for the rest of my life," deChiaro said. "If you mess up there you, might mess up the rest of your life."

Both graduates said they not only valued their friends, but also the teachers and faculty that helped guide them along the way. Tarlo gave much praise to her chemistry teacher Judith Kubik while deChiaro said he was grateful for his guidance counselor, James Ducharme.

"He definitely got me through these four years," deChiaro said.

Mayor John McDonald spoke at length about the importance of being involved in the community as the students begin going to college and into new communities. He even encouraged them to vote and to be a part of the process, especially during an election year, and repeated the old adage, "if you don't vote, then you can't complain."

"You are part of the solution, not the problem" McDonald told the graduates.

McDonald also focused on civility, which he feels today's society has lost. While it seems to be absent in the conversations, he explained, citing the many debates presently going on in the country, he assured the students that it is okay to disagree with others.

The graduating class was then given its chance to speak. Valedictorian Casey Tyler Israel urged her classmates to get out of high school - literally - so they can move on with their lives. She talked a lot about the multitude of possibilities and opportunities that will be available to all of them when they move on to higher education.

"Graduation day is the most anticipated day of our senior year," Israel said. "It's not our time to be held back but to actually grow."

Salutatorian Yahya Rasoully touched on a more sentimental subject during his speech, thanking the family, friends and teachers whom he said helped him along the path to graduation.

His speech was also motivational, reminding his classmates that high school graduation doesn't mean you won't ever see longtime friends again, really it's just another phase people must experience.

"Go forth and pursue what you believe in. Make friends and accept all the challenges along the way," Rasoully said. "This is not a goodbye. It's a see ya later."